#ZedShed Project - Vixxen (track car)

[2DunnsZ3]

its hard to pull out without climbing all over it in my expereience

 

[Lee]

Been a bit quiet on this build. The car was all ready for the Nurburgring but due to COVID the boarders were shut.

It was a blessing really because this 3.0 engine has been giving me a headache, it’s been poorly treated in the past. I’ve spent weeks chasing vacuum leaks due to snapped bolts and bodged gaskets. Coupled with this it uses just as much oil as it does petrol. I’ve done various checks and leak down test and come to the conclusion the piston rings are shot.

Normally I would just order a set and get it done but once you price everything up it comes to 1k and I can pick up another engine for £400 with 50k miles. So this is what I’ve done. I have a lower miler 2.8TU which is my preferred engine. The TU is identical to the M54B30 but with the better piston ring design of the M52B28.

Last week myself Dino and Spurs decided to do a track day at brands Hatch and give my engine a good send off. Strangely I was trying my hardest to see if she would pop but I popped a power steering line instead and did the biggest power slide ever because it soaked my rear tyres in fluid. Still it was good to know you can drive the car fine for over a 100 miles with no power steering long as you have arms like popaye.

So this weekend we plan to pull the engine and fit the 2.8. We’re planning to turn the 3.0 engine into a table

Watch this space for updates.

 

[mwpe]

I have never driven the Z with no power steering but I have the E46, it's not too bad once you are moving.

 

[Dino D]

Ooooh glad to see it’s getting some TLC.
Looking forward to some more outings, come rain or shine

 

[Lee]

Ever heard of an M54TUB28

Watch this space

 

[t-tony]

Ever heard of an M54TUB28

Watch this space

Is that what they call a "Bitsa"?

Tony.

 

[Rha]

This is going to be interesting. You've got the makings of a decent 2.8 if you salvage some much needed bits from that 3.0, me thinks.

Roy.

 

[t-tony]

This is going to be interesting. You've got the makings of a decent 2.8 if you salvage some much needed bits from that 3.0, me thinks.

Roy.

Yep, "Bitsa" it is Roy.

Tony.

 

[Nodzed]

Been a bit quiet on this build. The car was all ready for the Nurburgring but due to COVID the boarders were shut.

It was a blessing really because this 3.0 engine has been giving me a headache, it’s been poorly treated in the past. I’ve spent weeks chasing vacuum leaks due to snapped bolts and bodged gaskets. Coupled with this it uses just as much oil as it does petrol. I’ve done various checks and leak down test and come to the conclusion the piston rings are shot.

Normally I would just order a set and get it done but once you price everything up it comes to 1k and I can pick up another engine for £400 with 50k miles. So this is what I’ve done. I have a lower miler 2.8TU which is my preferred engine. The TU is identical to the M54B30 but with the better piston ring design of the M52B28.

Last week myself Dino and Spurs decided to do a track day at brands Hatch and give my engine a good send off. Strangely I was trying my hardest to see if she would pop but I popped a power steering line instead and did the biggest power slide ever because it soaked my rear tyres in fluid. Still it was good to know you can drive the car fine for over a 100 miles with no power steering long as you have arms like popaye.

So this weekend we plan to pull the engine and fit the 2.8. We’re planning to turn the 3.0 engine into a table

Watch this space for updates.

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My Nemesis. The ///Mposter. LOOK it's even lurking in the background of my sig photo

 

[Lee]

This is going to be interesting. You've got the makings of a decent 2.8 if you salvage some much needed bits from that 3.0, me thinks.

Roy.

I dont want to loose the larger 3.0 Throttle body so I’m going to try and use the flyby wire system with the TU to keep all the 3.0 inlet. Basically just remove the 3.0 lump and change it for the 2.8 lump and leave the rest keep the 3.0 injectors, manifold intake etc. I’ll swap over the 3.0 cams as well they have 1mm extra lift.

 

[Rha]

On my mani swap the throttle body was the only part I couldn't get enlarged/moded no one enlarges the 2.8 throttle body even Riot Racing in USA don't although I can't see why. With all the 3.0 manifold and cam bits fitted to the 2.8 including the 3.0 TB won't you have to fit the 3.0 ECU. Don't think the 2.8s ECU will recognise the fly by wire, I maybe wrong but got a feeling that's why nobody tried it as far as I'm aware.
Seems the only major difference will then be capacity, so maybe the 200cc won't matter that much. Although the old school saying is "there's no compensation for capacity" could be looking at an extra 7% on top of what you can get for cams plus what's normal for the mani swap if you can get that fly by wire TB to work. In my head you could be looking at 19 for mani, 5for cams,11-14for TB, 134bhp from a 2.8??? surely must be possible, but it never usually works out like that and probably get in the region of 121- 126. Fingers crossed you'll get a nice surprise. What about a diff swap????.

Even more interested now.
Roy.

 

[Lee]

On my mani swap the throttle body was the only part I couldn't get enlarged/moded no one enlarges the 2.8 throttle body even Riot Racing in USA don't although I can't see why. With all the 3.0 manifold and cam bits fitted to the 2.8 including the 3.0 TB won't you have to fit the 3.0 ECU. Don't think the 2.8s ECU will recognise the fly by wire, I maybe wrong but got a feeling that's why nobody tried it as far as I'm aware.
Seems the only major difference will then be capacity, so maybe the 200cc won't matter that much. Although the old school saying is "there's no compensation for capacity" could be looking at an extra 7% on top of what you can get for cams plus what's normal for the mani swap if you can get that fly by wire TB to work. In my head you could be looking at 19 for mani, 5for cams,11-14for TB, 134bhp from a 2.8??? surely must be possible, but it never usually works out like that and probably get in the region of 121- 126. Fingers crossed you'll get a nice surprise. What about a diff swap????.

Even more interested now.
Roy.

This is what I’m saying. I’m going to keep my 3.0 Ecu (MS43) so I can run the flyby wire TB with the TU engine. It should fine as the Ecu will adjust itself. That way like you were saying I can keep all the larger 3.0 items. I will take it to a well know mapper so we can fine tune it.

As for the diff I already run a 3.38 LSD so it launches like a missile already, my top end is only 135mph I just get there quickly.

The other route I’m looking at if funds allow is a full Individual throttle body kit, my only stumbling block is the TPS sensor built into the TB needs to be moved so I might have to do a little wiring trickery. I can either buy a bespoke kit or get the TB’s from the S50B30. The first gen M engine fits better with a small adapter plate.

We’ll see how it pans out. I have a few other little surprises never done on the Z3.

 

[NZ00Z3]

There is a M54 ITB kit on the market, although a bit pricey.

https://racehead.com.au/product/bmw-m54-itb-kit/

 

[Bazza]

I’m trying to learn Russian or Greak as well

 

[Jack Ratt]

The TU engines have long been known to suffer from high oil consumption. When I was looking for another engine for my black zed after the Euro tour incident this is one of the things that put me off going any further than looking.

The M52B28 engine design is solid and can be stroked to 3.0, if I recall correctly you just need the 3.0 crankshaft and rods, you don't need to rebore because the pistons are the same size. I bought an 80k mile M52B28 engine and prior to getting it fitted mulled over doing the 3.0 conversion but for what I use the car for it would have been a total waste of time and money.

Technically, the M52TU engine is superior to the M52B but the modifications have introduced a few gremlins into the engineering

This is a great thread and I like the way you're not put off by the obstacles you meeting

 

[Lee]

The TU engines have long been known to suffer from high oil consumption. When I was looking for another engine for my black zed after the Euro tour incident this is one of the things that put me off going any further than looking.

The M52B28 engine design is solid and can be stroked to 3.0, if I recall correctly you just need the 3.0 crankshaft and rods, you don't need to rebore because the pistons are the same size. I bought an 80k mile M52B28 engine and prior to getting it fitted mulled over doing the 3.0 conversion but for what I use the car for it would have been a total waste of time and money.

Technically, the M52TU engine is superior to the M52B but the modifications have introduced a few gremlins into the engineering

This is a great thread and I like the way you're not put off by the obstacles you meeting

Morning Jack. Did you mean to write the M54 in your opening line?

The TU uses a different design of ring compared to the M54 lump. Quite often people either use the M50/M52/TU rings to solves the oil usage issue on the M54 lump.

Either way quite a simple fix just time consuming.

 

[Rha]

Don't want to be taking the bottom end to bits just for a few CCs, would make the job a bit too involved for me, but for you and your team "No worries" be done by Monday.

Roy.

 

[Lee]

So today we made a start. We had a new guy visit and a couple of jobs to finish on another Zed. It was 2pm by the time we got onto Vixen.

First thing to do is get the nose high so we can access everything.

Then bit by bit everything started being removed. Seeing as this is the 3rd time we’ve done this most bolts are new.

By 4pm we were ready to take the weight.

Then by around 4:30 we had it out.

I swear last time we had more bits laying around.

We also stuck a fresh powdercoated beam next to a beam ready to be coated.

I’m going to pick up the M52TU28 on Monday so not long to wait.

 

[Lee]

Next I looked into when the power steering burst soaking my rear wheels on track. I was expecting to see a broken corroded line but was greeted with a blown rack, both gators were full of oil. Luckily there’s quite a few companies that offer exchange services. I managed to get a recondition rack for £160 delivered.

We’ve stripped the engine down to its bare block ready for cleaning. Once that’s done and the rack is back in we’ll start putting bits back in the Zed.

Hoping to get her nearly ready to run this weekend providing we don’t hit any show stoppers.

 

[Rha]

Looks like the bits are all there so fingers crossed. You’ve probably got a lot extra bits to choose from making this build even better by choosing the best of the bunch. Good luck.

Roy.